Mets Community Prospect List 2010: #4

His stuff is more like Matt Garza than Pelfrey.

Perfect game:

And in a significant about-face, Harvey has been a revelation this spring. In his first six starts for the Tar Heels, he went 3-1, 1.85 with 48 strikeouts in 39 innings, while allowing just 23 hits. His fastball has been overpowering, regularly reaching 97-98 mph. The command of his secondary stuff has been sharper, and his mechanics have been much more fluid—more like earlier in his career. As a freshman at North Carolina, Harvey was brought along slowly, working mainly as a Sunday starter, and went a commendable 7-2, 2.79 with 47 walks and 80 strikeouts in 68 innings. Even as his workload was curtailed by design that summer, he flashed the best power stuff in the Cape with a fastball that was consistently in the 94-95 mph range and a hammer curve at 82-84. His changeup was a solid third pitch.

By watching the 2009 and 2010 versions of Harvey, it would be tough to tell that the same pitcher was on the mound. But Harvey has undeniably shown why he was considered such an elite talent in high school, and has essentially returned to the same delivery he had then. Harvey had his share of scouts talking about his April 23 game against Clemson, when he threw a complete game (9 IP/6 H/1 BB/15 SO) with a mind-boggling 156 pitches. The most impressive part of the outing, though, was that pitch No. 156 was a 96 mph fastball to end the game. His velocity from the past is obviously back as he has sat in the 92-96 mph range all year, topping out at 98 on several occasions. He has also featured a tight, low-80s slider that projects as a potential plus pitch.

Harvey has shown a plus potential curve as well as the slider, but switched from being a fastball/curve guy to more sinker/slider, mostly because his four-seam fastball was a bit too flat, and he gets better movement on the two-seamer.

Another scouting report:

PITCH REPERTOIRE

Harvey’s four-seam fastball sits in the 92-96 mph range and touches 98, but has proven very hittable over his college career because it lacks for life. This prompted he and pitching coach Scott Forbes to develop a two-seam fastball this spring, a heavy ball that arrives at 91-93 which he keeps in the lower-third of the zone. Harvey has relied on his two-seamer often – particularly late in games – to consistently generate weak contact and limit his pitch count, which helps explain why he has pitched deeper into games with greater frequency this season. His breaking pitch of choice is his slider, which comes in at 83-85 and flashes plus right now. The pitch gets good rotation and tilt when thrown well, but it will occasionally flatten out and give the appearance of a slow cutter. He has lost the feel for his power curveball, which had plus potential coming out of high school as a third-round pick of the Angels in 2007, often failing to stay on top of it and hanging way up in the zone. But he has previously demonstrated the requisite hand speed to spin a good one, so this degradation should just be temporary. Harvey exhibits feel for a changeup, a 79-83 offering with some tumble, although his motion is noticeably more deliberate from a side view.

SUMMATION

Harvey’s combination of physicality, present velocity and potential stuff is tantalizing, but he is considered something of an underachiever because the results over three years in college didn’t match the talent. His past struggles can be mostly attributed to a lack of command (and at times, control), which, if resolved, could result in him becoming a No. 2 starter at his peak. Harvey’s track record indicates risk, but there is enough upside to warrant a top-10 overall selection.

The only reason Harvey’s stock was down was because his mechanics got out of whack in one season, his sophmore year. He was fine as a freshman, and back to being very impressive last year as a junior.

Jacob Turner is the only guy he mentioned who was as highly regarded as Harvey at the time.

Involving both Dickey and Cohoon, so let’s see if we can make him a starter.

but that type of control and k:bb ratio is great coming out of the pen. i guess its too early for any of almonte, cuan or pinera, but all are doing really good

He does seem to be getting some buzz lately. I don’t like to get too excited over guys putting up numbers at that level unless I know scouts and observers are enthusiastic as well. I’m starting to get the sense that is the case with Aderlin though. Keven Goldstein has mentioned him a couple of times recently, I think said he had as much power upside as anyone in that league, Toby Hyde seems enthusiastic after seeing him as well, and has a video up which looks pretty good.

It will be interesting to see though how he fares when BA does their end of season league lists. Cesar Puello is a guy who has made those top 20 lists in two different leagues now in the last two years, one in which he only had a .714 OPS. So I’m confident at this point that the scouts are high on Puello’s tools. I think I could see him in the top 5.

but is an even better CF, his natural position, than him

He’s a big lefty, with a fastball sitting low 90’s touching 94, with decent fastball command.
He’s able to sustain that pretty well. Could throw a lot of innings.
Good athleticism, mound presence, competitiveness, excellent pickoff move.
Slider with good late break, though mostly lateral, not a lot of drop.

He needs to work on his secondary offerings, but easily could be a #3 SP. There’s a lot to like there.

but way too early to be a top 5 prospect